R12 & R134a

[IndyJimW]

It’s that time of year again and my shop is getting into the A/C mode so I thought I would throw out what could be done for the A/C system in your Avanti.

R12 - Keep it original, the best performing A/C for your Avanti. Cost, availability and lack of someone with the skill are making this harder to accomplish.

R134a Conversion – For R134a to operate correctly pretty much everything from the firewall forward will have to be replaced and the expansion valve, if used,. I’m also replacing everything inside my ’87 Avanti because of the poor design. I would recommend a Vintage Air system. Cost to convert around $2500.00.

R134a Retrofit Kit – Will not cool as well as either of the above but is better than nothing. For $20.00 you can get a FJC Retrofit Kit PN – 2538 from Amazon or your local auto parts store. This includes R12 to R134a fittings and new oil. You will still need someone to recover the R12 and the old oil and charge the system with R134a. I would recommend this option until something major fails, then do an R134a Conversion.

Jim Wood

[Guest dapy]

Tomorrow I take my 1989 to a guy with R12 experience who will recharge the system with (expensive) bootleg R12. Yes, it is available but (officially) you need a license to purchase it. Presently I get cool, not cold. We'll see.

Any risk in this?

[IndyJimW]

dapy

Just make sure he is using R12 and not some R12 replacement garbage.

Jim

[Guest dapy]

My R12 system took one and a quarter pints (?) of R12 and that reduced the A/C temperature from 72 to 59 degrees. I think that will be good enough. Freon cost $70 each.